


I'll Always Come Home To You

by halfwaybowden



Category: Ballum, EastEnders (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23859793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwaybowden/pseuds/halfwaybowden
Summary: Callum's shifts as a police officer have never been straightforward, with it being the norm for him to be late, working overtime, caught up in something or other. Ben doesn't know how much longer he can handle it, not being able to breathe until he knows he is safe
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 7
Kudos: 70





	I'll Always Come Home To You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) This originally was a plan in my head for a 'chapter series', but given I've only just started again, I thought it better to take it slow. Thanks so much for all the love on my first one-shot too, I can't believe it after all this time! 
> 
> Ben isn't scripted to be deaf in this, I guess: with Callum passing his police assessment, this is set about a year on? So fingers crossed, his operation will work for him, but that's a whole other story... enjoy!

Callum thought he had pace in his venture back to his flat, occupied solely by himself and his boyfriend for the week, but the glaring timer on the microwave soon told him otherwise when he walking in to the kitchen. He was placing his coat on the back of the chair when said boyfriend appeared from the adjacent bedroom, glasses replacing the contact lenses that gave light to the blue in his eyes. A loose tee hung from his shoulders, the hem dancing along the waistband of his joggers - he might be wrong, but this was usually Ben's attire for a Sunday morning as opposed to date night. Still, date night was usually set between 6 and 8, depending on Callum's shift hours, so given that it was 10:27, perhaps he shouldn't be surprised.

"Did I wake you?" He asks, uncertain if he should envelop the boy in a hug, kiss, or full blown street parade to convey his apologies. Ben was impossible to read when he wanted to be.

"No, was just getting changed, actually." Ben also fails to advance towards Callum, signalled by the lean of his hip on the kitchen counter. "Wondered if you were going to come home at all, to be honest."

"I'm so sorry, Ben, really, I got caught up-"

"With work. I know." 

There was an uncomfortable silence in the flat, one that was cold and unfamiliar. Or at least it used to be - Callum was beginning to lose count of how many times he stumbled in, long after he was supposed to, the ache in his bones shifting straight into his heart when he caught sight of the disappointed look in Ben's eyes. 

"Dinner is in the oven for you, although you might need to microwave it, now." Ben says, voice holding the same calm and tired tone. 

"Have you eaten?" Callum replies quickly. He's noticed Ben's subtle movements, body unable to remain still, as if he will slip out of sight in the blink of an eye were he to let their conversation settle. 

"No," Ben sighs. "kept thinking another five minutes and you'd be here, we'll just sit down together... and then eventually, the thought of you lying in a ditch somewhere, or god-knows in what state-" He has to pause to compose himself, to not let Callum see the extent to which he had been going out of his mind with worry. An hour late, and yeah, he can accept that as a difficult arrest that's mouthing off or a stack of paperwork that needed to be done for yesterday. When it gets to three hours, his grip on rational thinking begins to slip. "Didn't exactly boost the appetite." 

The distance between them is hurting Callum, now, as if they were attached to a rope being pulled in opposite directions. The strain was evident, frays sticking out like barbed wire, burning at the hands as he desperately tries to cling on. "I'm sorry, Ben, it won't happen again, I swear." The laugh that Ben gives falls flat, all humour lost.

"You're a very good guy, Callum." Ben states, pushing himself up off the worktop that had previously been supporting his weight. It takes all he has to steady himself on his own two feet. "Really, you'll do anything for anyone, never stop until you know everyone else is okay. " Callum can't maintain the eye contact any longer. 

"I can handle you working all hours, I can handle you being late, of course I can. I just don't know how many more nights I can sit here, in the dead of night, wondering if your even going to come home, or if your pals will be the ones knocking on that door instead, to tell me that- that," 

He doesn't hesitate then , to close the gap between them, miles of distance converging into just two long strides before his arms wrap around Ben's shoulders, chin resting firmly on top of his messy hair as Ben wraps his arms around his back, strong, as if it's all that's keeping him upright. "You can't think like that, Ben, alright? I ain't going nowhere," 

"You can't promise me that." Ben states, and Callum is grateful that his voice is muffled where his face is pressed into his coat, soaking up some of the pain in his voice. He pulls back, then, lifting his head but not quite easing his grip on Callum's back. "I _know_ it's intense, and busy, and that's why you love it," Ben continues, with the moonlight seeping in from the kitchen blinds and illuminating his gaze. "But God, babe, just a text, just so I know you're alright-"

Callum felt as if a bullet had been rammed into his chest, because they've never done this. His excuses and apologies have, thus far, held together the fractures to their relationship, the danger and reality of his job as a police officer brushed aside so that the little time left over they have to spend with each other is focused on just that. It isn't until now that Callum considers that despite his training, his airily confidence that he can hold his own and make it home at the end of the night, Ben couldn't know that. Never for certain, what ifs infiltrating his thoughts as the clock ticked on, filling the deafening silence left in Callum's absence. 

He kicks himself further as the reflection of Ben's ring stuns him a little, a dedication that Ben wouldn't take love for granted again. Callum thinks of the pain he must've been in, is still in, processing the shock and unimaginable concept of your love being at your side one day and gone the next, just like that. It wasn't meant to happen that way. It got out of hand. It's no wonder than Ben is still plagued by such concerns, concerns that Callum can no longer relieve with a rehearsed response. 

"I can do that." Callum answers immediately, his hands moving to rest on Ben's cheekbones with his thumbs brushing underneath his eyes. "I can do that, I'll call, even better, I can change my hours around a bit- Ellie has a newborn now, she worked in the offices so there's always a stack of paperwork, yaknow, I'd get out on time-" 

"Hey, hey," Ben stalls him, an amused smile on his face. Callum falls quiet, unaware that he had all been tripping over himself trying to hold onto Ben in the first place, but the curve of his lips for the first time since walking in suddenly makes it easier for him to breathe. "What did I tell you, ay? Always eager to please." 

The silence that falls over them this time isn't quite so suffocating, with both lads just content to be in each other's presence. 

"I don't want you to change, to stop doing what you love. I just need to know you're coming home, yeah?"

Gently, he leans in to where his forehead is resting again Ben's, trying to ease his mind that he was here, with him, and Callum would see it to that that never changed. 

"I love you." 

Even in the dim lights, Callum didn't miss the blush that spread through Ben's cheeks; no matter how often he told him, it seemed, Ben couldn't quite comprehend the feeling. Reaching up onto his tiptoes, he softly met lips with his boyfriend, revelling in the gentleness of his hold on his hips, finally home where he belonged. Upon pulling away, a laugh escapes his lips as he see's Callum's raised eyebrows, clearly waiting for a verbal response. 

"What?" Ben laughs, teasing him on. "C'mon, haven't I done enough of the heart to heart for one evening?" He holds his response just long enough, Callum's lips pouting before he makes for their bedroom. 

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Plate up whilst I get changed?" He ponders. Ben nods, squeezing his hand gently in his before letting him past. "I mean it. I'll always come home to you." Ben lets him go with another nod of his head, his heart thumping in his chest with affection for the boy stood infront of him. 

"Oh, babe?" Ben calls back, grin from ear to ear as Callum appears once more in the doorway, shirtless. 

"I love you, too." 


End file.
